Summer Lovin'

What's that I hear? Aww.. It's the sound of it NOT raining for once this wet June.

This week, the weather has been really nice and so we took advantage...

Utah Lake wake Boarding.
I can honestly say that I got up on the board this time! It didn't last long but hey, it's a start. My brother's on the other hand are super good and they just awesome!

Bella Bean could not go on the boat, well because I am just not ready for her to go yet. So instead I bought her a sprinkler that is a ball and she, had a ball. Then we went to a park and she ran through the sprinklers there. Once Granny and Papa get their pool running then we will not have to resort to such lengths to keep cool.( That was a hint dad!)

James finished Corrections Academy!

We had a BBQ to celebrate the fact that my husband is amazing and finished Police Academy. He will continue to work where he is at for the time being and we will see how things go in the future.

Thank you to all those who came. I didn't think about taking pictures at the BBQ until most people left and the pictures I did get are not very good. Sorry I didn't get a picture of all your pretty faces, but here are some pictures of ours for your viewing pleasure!

(Bella is doing her Blue steel look)

Graduating Class
James Taking his oath.

The class went through a lot together. They build bonds that will last forever. He had to learn to like to run, to take people down and how to take O.C. Spray to the face. It was not an easy 12 weeks but it was worth it and I am proud of him.

Kickin' the habbit

I admit I have been extremely lazy when it comes to making Bella stop having her bottle at night. I finally got sick of it and got some advice telling me that most experts say that it would just take a few days of them crying to kick the habit. So we tried it,

Day 1:

I put her to bed at 8:30. She screamed until 2:30 and finally passed out from exhaustion. It seriously was the worst night of my life. It was so hard to not cave in and just sit there and listen to my baby cry.

Day 2:

She cried for 45 mins.

Day 3:

Cried for 15 mins

Day 4:

NO CRYING!! WOOT WOOT! Praise the lord, it actually worked. Those experts know what they are talking about after all.

Day 5:

1 hour and 20 mins of crying? I don't understand. It was raining pretty hard and was scaring her so we will keep trying and hopefully I have it in me not to cave into her demands. LOL It's slowly progressing and at least I am trying to help her, even though she thinks I am just being mean.

Camping in the rain at Goblin Valley

It's been years since my entire family have all been able to get together on a camping trip. My parents thought it was high time and we went somewhere that was a special spot for our family. We used to go there a lot when I was just a wee little girl. It was great to see the whole family playing nice!

We made plenty of marshmallows and I completely fell off the diet wagon on this trip.
Bella and my sis.

Bella and her amazing mommy!

Two love birds!

All the Grand kids!

We had so many tents that we had to take up some of the road.

See all the little Goblin's?

It rained EVERYDAY!! I was looking forward to doing some hiking but I was to cold and to afraid of the mud.

My beautiful family

More mud!

The best part was the kids crying all night because they were scared it was going to flood! That made it spectacular especially cuz all our tents were so close together!

All in all it turned out to be a really fun trip. on the last day it stopped raining long enough for us to do some hiking. I don't have pictures cuz I still don't have a camera these above are courtesy of my mother.

Dear Husband....

I LOVE that it is summer, but I hate the fact the little creepy crawlies think they can invade my house! I had to be brave enough to kill this spider who thought he could just make himself a home in my kitchen because James was out of the house. I however was not brave enough to clean up his remains, That is why I LOVE my hubby!

Team Schwartz update

I couldn't think of a clever title because this post will be a whole mess of different things. I don't have much time to blog these days so you get the updates all at once....Deal.

The Beauty Queen.

Bella decided she wanted to wear a dress and I told her no because it was to cold outside so she went in her room, took off her pants and put on another shirt and made a skirt out of two shirts. Clever girl! She then decided that two shirts are not enough and she would need to try on every shoe in the house. And for the final touch no she needed her jacket and princess crown.

Easter 2009
We did an Easter egg hunt at my friend, Tori's house and at my parents the next day. She got spoiled from the Easter bunny.


Children's Museum
She was afraid of the horse. She kept wanting to go up to it but when I put her on she would have a melt down.

The water was the best part for her and the doll house with the kitchen. When we got home she had to play in the kitchen sink.

My little news caster

Lego's

She only liked the helicopter after I told her Daddy would have liked to see it.

Little sailor

Bella had a great time at the children's museum. We will have to go back again soon.

I would have pictures of the Zoo from this Sunday but my camera magically got dropped while trying to take a picture by the giraffes. Darn, I hate when I have to buy new/nicer things!

April Fools Dinner

Last night was April fools day. I don't usually play any jokes on James but last night I decided I would have a little fun with his food. I made Dinner for desert and desert for dinner. I forgot to take a picture of the meatloaf so you will just have to take my word for it that it looked like a strawberry pie.
It was the last time I am going to make cupcakes because not only do I want to be skinny again but now money is involved. We are doing a biggest looser with my friends and the stakes are higher. Wish me luck! I think I am going to be the big looser!

Spaghetti and Meatball Cupcakes

Ingredients:
1 Yellow or White Cake Mix (**sale** Pillsbury $1.25)
4 Large eggs (**sale** Large AA 18 ct. $1.89)
Oil called for on cake mix box
1 cup buttermilk
1-2 Tubs White frosting (**sale** Pillsbury $1.39)
Yellow Food Coloring
15 oz. jar low-sugar strawberry jam (better color in low-sugar jam)
1 bar white chocolate (3 oz. or so)
12 - 24 pieces Ferrero Rocher candy
2 zip-lock bags (large, freezer-quality)
Method:
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. In a large bowl, combine cake mix, eggs, water and buttermilk. Beat with a hand mixer 2 minutes. Prepare cupcake pan by lining with yellow or white cupcake paper liners. Pour batter into cupcake liners until 2/3 way full. Bake for 15-17 minutes or until done. Remove from oven and completely cool. Tint white frosting a "pasta" color by adding 2-3 drops of yellow food coloring. Spoon frosting into freezer bags, seal and snip a VERY small corner off and push frosting through snipped hole. When cupcakes are cool, drizzle frosting in a random pattern to resemble pasta. Place 1 chocolate candy on each cupcake to look like a meat ball and spoon a little strawberry jam over the meatball to mimic spaghetti sauce. Keep cool until ready

to serve.

For the fauxberry pie, I just made meat loaf in a pie pan. Mixed mashed potatoes and beets together to make the color. then added the potatoes to the top of the meat loaf. It looked like a whipped strawberry pie.